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League of Nations

The poster that I have chosen is titled, “League of Nations”. This poster was made somewhere between 1917 and 1920 by an unknown artist (Russian Archives Online). This poster caught my attention because of the fact that it looks like many other propaganda posters that I had seen made in the U.S. intended to point out the gluttony, greed and negative stereotypes of capitalists. Like many other cartoons, this poster shows three obese men, sitting in chairs, smoking some sort of cigarette or cigar, and wearing top hats. Each man is wearing a different top hat with a different flag on it to communicate which countries they are from; one from France, one from the United States, and the other from Great Britain, with the man form the U.S. sitting in the middle.

The first thing that I thought of when I looked at their facial expressions was the word pompous; this is how they are depicted to me. Another subtle thing that I noticed about them men is that they are also wearing shiny rings on their fingers and wearing monocles, also adding to their pompousness. Also, the clothes that they are wearing remind me of a bed sheet, presumably to emphasize how fat they are. One of the biggest things that stands out other than the men’s clothing is the big yellow flag above their head that reads “Capitalists from all countries, unite!” (sovietposters.com). The most shocking illustration is the depiction or countless, naked, dead and or suffering people lying at and under the feet of the men sitting high in their chairs. I also didn’t notice them at first, but there is a line of nooses behind them with a bodies stacked up to them.

My interpretation of this message is that these capitalist men, who are representations of these countries and apart of the United Nations, are sitting high and mighty above the rest; the rest being the Russians, who are in obvious distress and peril. This message seems to suggest that the U.N. frown upon, much like the men in the poster, the Russians and do not wish to have them apart of it. I believe that this message is aimed at the general Russian populous to convince them that a western way of life is what is causing the Russians suffering. I feel like this is an effective piece of propaganda because it aims to promote hatred for the United Nations and support the Soviet Union.